Is my battery drained?

Battery tenders are cheap and worth 100X their weight in gold

You probably should have started the car and let it run for 15-20 minutes (assume alternator) every 3-4 weeks to keep battery charged - or put a <$10 automatic battery tender on it. Many remove the battery and take it inside to a warm place for the cold winter.  Even so, it may need a charge to bring it back to full life.  If the battery is older than 5 years - it could easily need replacing.

x2 on battery tender. Absent that, I'd probably jump start it or push start and drive for an hour.

Charge it, or jump start the car, then - as Ed says - drive it for some length of time.  If it charges up, fine; if not, time for a new battery.

I just keep a battery tender on the car over the winter, rather than start it up once in a while.  In the cold climes, it's better than starting it a couple of times each winter.

Now, if I were in sunny, warm, Florida, like some unfortunate people on this site, easy peasy...

As others have mentioned, an unattended battery will often die if left over the winter months.

You have three choices:

1.  Jump start the car and drive around to charge the battery.  If the car dies at the first stop sign you're screwed (unless you're going down a hill)

2.  Buy a battery charger and charge your battery.  Note that a battery tender, which you should have, will not charge a dead battery.

3.  Remove your battery from the car and take it to a shop that can recharge it and test it to see if it's worth keeping. 

Also......buy a battery tender.

Bob agree! I should have mentioned that the "short charge the battery" 15 minute start up are indeed BAD for the engine.  The engine doesn't heat up enough to burn off acidic water vapors in the crankcase plus gas flows down the cylinder walls when cold diluting the oil.  Water vapor can also rust out the exhaust. Same goes for short commutes to work - you want the engine to reach full operating temperature for a decent period of time.

Gee, and here I was just thinking of how you'd have put on two layers of clothes and big boots, go outside in the freezing cold and try to walk to the garage without slipping on the ice,  shovel three feet of snow out of the way of the garage door, sit in a bloody cold car with freezing fingers, and try to start it.

You mean it's bad for the car too??!??!?? 

Sorry, Dude.....   Now that it's warmed up enough outside to actually drive around (I'll be out there later today, too!), zip on over to Walmart and buy one of these in the automotive department:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sch...and-Charger/13005742

I have a bunch of them kicking around and use them on several different cars, the lawn mower, you name it - I have a small Odyssey battery in my car, so I one of these  trickle chargers on it whenever I'm not driving it.

Attach the charger to your battery, set it to 12 volts, plug it in and go away for a day or two.  It'll probably have you back up to full charge in 24 hours, but I don't know what you have for a battery so it may take longer.  The LED on the charger glows amber while charging and then turns green when charged - Easy Peasy.

You might, later, think about a new battery if that one has been in there for an undetermined time - it may be approaching the end of its' useful life.

Don't worry about your engine - you didn't hurt anything.

BTW:  "German Car Day" is coing up on June 18'th (Father's Day) at Larz Anderson Park in Brookline:  

Thanks everyone!

do I understand correctly that the speed charger can be used either:

1. Unplugged for a speed charge (15 mins...); or

2. Plugged in, to maintain a charge over long periods

I'm going to need the car tomorrow. :-)

Thanks also for the Larz Anderson reminder!

You will need to put a traditional battery charger on it today so it will be ready to go tomorrow. You should also buy yourself a battery tender that you can install onto your battery while the car is stored. It will put a small charge to the battery to maintain a full charge. As others have said it WILL NOT charge a dead battery.

Others have suggested you just get an inexpensive battery tender to maintain the battery during storage. I disagree with the "get an inexpensive tender" part. The inexpensive tenders don't last long. I would recommend a good quality tender from Deltran. They have several models including this one that looks like it will charge a dead battery and properly maintain the battery while the vehicle is being stored. I'm not real clear on all the technical aspects of it but it appears to charge in four stages: Initialization, bulk charge, absorption, and float. You can install the pigtail to the terminals then tuck it in when not in use. When needed pop the hood and pull the pigtail out and plug in the charger. 

If your battery is a traditional cell vs. gel cells, make sure you buy distilled water to top the battery off,  to the bottom of the fill "cylinder / throat"  The cold weather guys here, may have more comments than this left coaster.

Batteries are sensitive animals  

I agree with Robert we use to have trickle chargers (old technology) but a good battery conditioner is what is needed and maybe able to renew it but your battery may have been left too long in a discharged state or may be too old so unless you know the age of the battery it might be good to have someone check it if can hold a charge ... sometimes it happens they are too far gone to hold a charge... BTW Stay away from the old trickle charger units. 

Regular tap water with it's impurities, minerals and salts are harmful to the electrodes. 

Distilled water is pure H2O.  Tap water has minerals (lime, iron) and maybe chemicals like chlorine/flouride which the battery doesn't need. The minerals/chemicals shorten the batteries life.

Thanks again, everybody.  I got it started this morning; and have been driving it on and off all day so far.  :-)  Who needs work??

Hopefully, it will start again tomorrow; and I'm back in bizness!

Epic day for this car in Massachusetts.  

~Justin

Great news on getting your Speedster started! 

Good news, Justin.

I was out this morning, too.  Beautiful day here in Massachusetts and I'm hoping to get back out there tomorrow, too.   It felt SO GOOD to be driving around in sunshine!!!!!!!!!!

Good to hear that Gordon!  Tomorrow if the rain lets up I might get out for the first time this season  

Ditto that, Gordon! Maybe we'll cross paths somewhere between Cambridge and Concord tomorrow... 

:-)